Zhang Yiming
| Personal details | |
| Born | Zhang Yiming 1983/4/1 (age 42) 🇨🇳 Longyan, Fujian, China |
| Nationality | 🇨🇳 Chinese |
| Citizenship | 🇨🇳 Chinese |
| Languages | 🇺🇸 English |
| Education | Nankai University (BS) |
| Career details | |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, software engineer |
| Title | Founder of ByteDance (TikTok parent) |
| Net worth | US$43 billion (December 2025) |
Zhang Yiming (张一鸣, born April 1983) is a Chinese internet entrepreneur and billionaire who founded ByteDance, the world's most valuable private technology company and creator of TikTok/Douyin.[1] With an estimated net worth of $57.5 billion as of 2025, Zhang ranks as China's richest person.[2]
Born in Longyan, Fujian Province, Zhang studied software engineering at Nankai University before working at various Chinese tech startups.[3] In 2012, at age 29, he co-founded ByteDance and launched Toutiao, a news aggregation app using artificial intelligence to personalize content recommendations.[4] In 2016, ByteDance launched Douyin (TikTok internationally), which became a global phenomenon with over 1 billion users.[5]
In 2021, Zhang resigned as ByteDance CEO at age 38, citing his discomfort with management, though he retains majority voting control.[6]
Early life and education
Zhang Yiming was born in April 1983 in Longyan, Fujian Province, China, to civil servant parents.[7]
He attended Nankai University in Tianjin, graduating in 2005 with a degree in software engineering.[8]
Career
Early startups
In 2005, Zhang joined Kuxun.com, a travel search website, as an engineer. He later worked at Microsoft briefly.[9]
In 2009, he co-founded 99fang.com, a property search website.[10]
ByteDance (2012-present)
In March 2012, Zhang co-founded ByteDance in Beijing. The company's first product, Toutiao, launched in August 2012.[11]
In September 2016, ByteDance launched Douyin (later TikTok internationally).[12]
In November 2017, ByteDance acquired Musical.ly for approximately $1 billion and merged it with TikTok.[13]
See also
References
- ↑ <ref>"ByteDance Valuation".{Template:Newspaper.January 12, 2023.Retrieved December 15, 2025.</ref>
- ↑ <ref>"Zhang Yiming Forbes Profile".Forbes.Retrieved December 15, 2025.</ref>
- ↑ <ref>"Zhang Yiming Biography".{Template:Newspaper.Retrieved December 15, 2025.</ref>
- ↑ <ref>"ByteDance Founding".{Template:Newspaper.July 9, 2021.Retrieved December 15, 2025.</ref>
- ↑ <ref>"TikTok 1 Billion Users".{Template:Newspaper.September 27, 2021.Retrieved December 15, 2025.</ref>
- ↑ <ref>"Zhang Yiming Steps Down".{Template:Newspaper.May 20, 2021.Retrieved December 15, 2025.</ref>
- ↑ <ref>"Zhang Yiming Early Life".{Template:Newspaper.Retrieved December 15, 2025.</ref>
- ↑ <ref>"Zhang Yiming Education".{Template:Newspaper.August 2020.Retrieved December 15, 2025.</ref>
- ↑ <ref>"Zhang Yiming Career".{Template:Newspaper.August 3, 2020.Retrieved December 15, 2025.</ref>
- ↑ <ref>"Zhang 99fang.com".{Template:Newspaper.July 27, 2020.Retrieved December 15, 2025.</ref>
- ↑ <ref>"Toutiao Launch".{Template:Newspaper.July 29, 2020.Retrieved December 15, 2025.</ref>
- ↑ <ref>"Douyin Launch".{Template:Newspaper.December 3, 2019.Retrieved December 15, 2025.</ref>
- ↑ <ref>"Musical.ly Acquisition".{Template:Newspaper.November 9, 2017.Retrieved December 15, 2025.</ref>